The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication has issued new policy directives for the renewal of Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL) cellular mobile licenses dated July 2007.
New policy directive is issued in view of the requirement set by Telecom Policy 2015 and also due to the fact that the Jazz’s license — which was issued in July 2007 — is set to renewal in July 2022.
New directives, issued by the Ministry of IT and Telecom, will set the rules for issuance and renewal process of cellular mobile licenses by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Frequency Allocation Board.
As per the new directives, the renewal price for spectrum included in the license being renewed shall be in accordance with recent price benchmarks of renewal 2019 and spectrum auction 2021, i.e., per MHz price for frequency spectrum in 900 MHz and 1800 MHz shall be $39.5 million and $31 million, respectively.
The licenses will be renewed with the same quantity of spectrum, i.e., 13.6 MHz (7.6 MHz in 900 MHz and 6 MHz in 1800 MHz) to generate an expected revenue of $486.2 million.
Moreover, the tenure of the renewed license shall continue to be 15 years.
The new directives specify that the payment terms shall be 100 percent upfront or 50 percent upfront, with the remaining 50 percent on five equal annual installments on LIBOR +3 percent.
The renewal fee shall be paid in US Dollars with the option to pay in Pak Rupee, which will be calculated at the market exchange rate applicable at the time of payment, as per precedence of earlier cellular license issuance/renewal.
The license renewed under this policy directive shall be technology-neutral, in line with existing GoP policies. In extension, provisions for Spectrum Trading/Sharing as per the approved regulatory framework for such sharing/trading will be incorporated in the renewed license by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
Other Terms and Conditions, including coverage obligations, Quality of Service (QoS), etc., will be at par with Cellular Mobile License issued/renewed in 2021 by PTA, with no separate performance bank guarantee against rollout obligations. The payment (100 percent or 50 percent upfront as the case may be) shall be due on or before 5 July 2022.
